Economy
New phase in euro-dollar exchange rate
Sluggish progress in carrying out structural economic reforms at home and the torrid growth rate registered by the US, even defying IMF forecasts, perpetuated the euro's weakness. Europe's tendency to exercise monetary authority reluctantly and erratical
ly, further undermined the euro's credibility, says D. Sambandhan
States -- leaders and laggards
ECONOMIC reforms in India since 1992, have catapulted some States to a high-growth path, while others, which failed to leverage reforms, have been left behind. This is true, when one looks at the States' performance, during the pre- and post-reform perio
d. The States that performed well before, did even better, during the post-reform period. The opposite is true for the laggard States. Their performance has fallen in the post-reform era.
Sinha's claims and the real economy
EVERY FINANCE Minister's Budget speech tries to prove that he has made a serious effort to change the course of the Indian economy and introduce path-breaking reforms. While presenting the 2000-01 budget, Mr. Yashwant Sinha made certain, very lofty, pron
ouncements: ``I propose to put India on the sustained, equitable and job-creating growth of 7-8 per cent per year in order to banish the scourge of poverty from our land within a decade.'' Therefore, it would be appropriate to examine how serious an effo
rt Mr. Sinha has made to achieve these objectives. But before doing so, it would be prudent to examine whether the Budget has succeeded in the following fiscal objectives:
Editorial
EPF conundrum
CORPORATES AND MARKETS may not be tickled by the one percentage drop in interest rates on Employees Provident Fund (EPF) deposits to 11 per cent as the corpus of around Rs. 45,000 crores goes to service the current expenditure of the Centre. There
could be some consolation in New Delhi's apparent earnestness to hold interest rates at current levels, if not attempt the impossible of dropping them. With returns on EPF deposits falling to 11 per cent, no way could the Finance Ministry back
the promise of the Central Board of Trustees of the EPF Organisation to pay out 12 per cent.
Miscellaneous
The ways of law
THE UNION Law Minister, Mr. Ram Jethmalani, has sought to play down the match-fixing controversy that has brought into focus the alleged clandestine ways of some Indian cricket heroes making a fast buck by compromising the country's ho
nour.
The return of the native
UNLIKE Prince William and other members of the British Royal family, Salman Rushdie's privacy requires no protection from the prying lenses of the paparazzi. He is, after all, a novelist and a media celebrity. Not from him raging complaints to the Press
Council of indecent exposure. Newspapers, radio and television hang on his every word, and his glitzy social life, as changeable as the English weather in its revolving displays of glamorous partners, keeps gossip columnists happy and content. Selling an
author does help in selling his books.
Politics
Pakistan: Army within army
B. Raman
